"Not everyone has that choice," Tranquillina interrupts. "Take Stultus for example. Half his lab is on the rocky shelf high above us - exposed to the elements and the forceful winds; that takes a tremendous toll on the equipment there, which must often be replaced. Why, simply getting supplies up to that sanctum takes more time, which translates into more servants and thus more cost. And we would punish him for his laboratory's upkeep, because he volunteered to use that lab due to his smaller stature? That seems unfair to me ... although I am but a frail, elderly girl, so you might not be inclined to value my opinion." She makes no effort to hide the sarcasm in her last comment.
Why not simply scrap that lab and build a better and more cost effective one on the ground?
Stultus had actually moved a lot of the lab inside -- forget lab equipment, the elements and the forceful winds take a tremendous toll on the dwarf, and there are no replacements for him available -- but that doesn't detract from Tranquillina's point.
"Because of the magical advantages in being on a mountaintop, and the time required for setup and teardown. If I had a year or two to devote to setting up a new lab that's just as good, I might well do that -- but as things stand, I don't."
Is it a tithe or a payoff? It was simple dropped into our laps. If we wish to...renegotiate with the Bishop I think that falls to pauses to check the officer list. Alexei as Vilicus. I might want you to take your deputy to this visit as well. with your future duties, we can not count on you being here all the time so Tranquillina should meet him.
Roberto. Your suggestion has merit if we are struggling like Novus Main but at this point we are simple having to readjust our funds for new expenses. At this point I would suggest that we shelve it until we see how these other methods work out. It may come down to drastic belt tightening but I think we have some time before it comes to that.
((I would have two responses for this but I'm unsure of Korvin's knowledge. Tenens seems like a in-House function of the Bonisagus for other Bonisagus. From reading it I'm not sure if a general magi, from outside Bonisagus, would even know they exist. I will go with my first response.))
Korvin looks blankly at Tranquillina for a moment.
Tranquillina takes a deep breath, but merely nods at Alexei. It's a sensible contingency, she tells herself, and I will have the energy for it. After taking it easy over the summer, she felt fully recovered and successfully tackled the second Corpus tropaeum during the autumn. But she is planning, for the next few months, one last overhaul of her laboratory: she will patiently go over the room from top to bottom, cleaning and organizing every last piece of equipment, now that all her Corpus aids are in place. She also needs to make room for her new magical furnace (she smiles inwardly, anticipating its healthy warmth throughout the winter), and - certainly not least, in terms of her attention - to fulfill her promise to Loys. I've never trained a dedicated servant in a lab before ... I hope I haven't made a huge mistake. But back to the matter at hand: she reassures herself that a trip to see the bishop will not cause her undue stress, even during a busy season; I'll take my annual confession at the same time, she decides efficiently.
((Fair point ... and it'll help all of us for a quick summary of what a Tenens is anyway. Myself included :mrgreen: ))
Tranquillina clears her throat and assumes a didactic tone of voice. "Much of what the Tenentes Occulortum do can be surmised from the name," she begins. ((Everyone present knows the words mean "Tenders of Secret Lore.")) "These four magi Trianomae travel extensively over their assigned areas - in Tria's case, the Tribunals of Rome, the Rhine, and the Greater Alps: the most prestigious of the four. In brief, their role is to guard the metaphorical boundary between magical knowledge and the mundane world. They ensure that Hermetic research is kept safely out of mundane hands, especially when explications of that research are transfered from a covenant to Durenmar. To be prepared for that duty, Tria would want to keep track of all the research projects currently being undertaken by Bonisagi in - er, by magi in her assigned area." She glances guiltily at Korvin as she continues her lecture. "The Tenentes also keep track of non-magi who are known to us as being seekers of magical phenomena; occasionally, subtle intervention is necessary there to forestall threats to Hermetic security." Tranquillina decides not to bring up the Gazetteer if nobody asks about it. ((Int + Order of Hermes Lore vs. EF 12 for anyone to remember the word Gazetteer as being connected to the Tenentes Occultorum, vs. EF 15 to actually know what it is. As a Bonisagus, Gerulf probably deserves a +3 bonus to his roll.))
Alexei heaves a heavy sigh at the assignment of seeing the Bishop again, and to renegotiate the tithe they were making.
"Yes...it should be done, the true tithe is only 10 percent. I'm concerned that my love for Mother Church and fidelity to it might cloud my judgment...but this seems rather clear cut. Perhaps it is best then that I go, and yes having someone come with is a good idea. The Bishop knows...far more than I'm comfortable with about the Order. A failing I believe that we can again thank Valerian and his allies for. He was performing magic right in front of him! Such nerve! Such disrespect in the house of the Lord!"
If it is a true tithe I would agree but the Bishop mentioned that some of it would go to the Duke to pay for his Crusade. Korvin looks to Tranquillina. I would keep an open mind while negotiating.
(( Nb4xBc6 Q+... ))
"I have no light to shed on the matter -- just a question. What was Tria looking for in Rome?"
"I wish I knew," Tranquillina answers, shaking her head. "Not because it is any business of ours ... but because of the rumors I heard of the antagonism Tria was engendering during those visits."
((In case that part of the conversation is petering out....))
"In any event," she continues, "the conversation soon turned to other matters - that was the day that Alexei, er, sought medical attention." She looks with concern at the Flambeau. "Tria left then, for a few days, but then returned with a guest. I went to Korvin to request an Aegis token for this guest, but because we did not know their identity, we both visited Tria's quarters. That is when we found out that Tria's guest was the local Tremere Exarch...." Tranquillina glances over to Rose for her reaction. "Maris seemed somewhat put out that two Mons Electi magi, rather than one, knew of her coming; of course that sparked my curiosity. That of our Princeps too, I wager, but he judged - rightly - that we would learn more from our visitors if he stepped away from the discussion."
If you mean that I try not in insert myself into other's business then yes. And Maris is a bit scary.
((Must have missed this))
Brionne shudders at the touch of magic, seeming to breathe in the spell as it's cast upon him, closing his eyes for a moment and then opening them with the glint of a night time predator in his eyes.
"That...that'd be grand m'lady, I thank you truly." he says as he stands up a little unsteadily for a moment and looks about him.
((His eyes, by Fiona's sigil, are completely white, like marbles.))
Fiona reaches out a steadying hand and looks down at Brionne worriedly. [color=blue]"Are ye all right, lad?"
Brionne nods a little slowly as he's still savoring the rush of the magic. "Aye m'lady, just fine and thank you." It's perhaps not so difficult to see the source of his various...afflictions. It must have required quite a lot of magic to do this to him...
"Well, I have a shift on the watch tonight." he points to his eyes. "This will help, I'm sure. If there's anything else I can do for m'lady?"
Fiona shakes her head "no" with a thoughtful look on her face. [color=blue]"No, that will be all," she says as she leads him back to the front door. [color=blue]"Thank you again for your time."
"Indeed, she is intimidating," Tranquillina admits. "At first, Tria did much of the talking - there seemed to be a lot of secrecy at play; or at least a pretense of secrecy - hence Korvin being asked to leave, even though they placed no prohibition on my reporting to him. Let me see...." Tranquillina gathers her memories of the conversation, which was far too long for a casting of By His Works to be useful. "Tria made a big deal of the fact that Maris was Apollodorus's filia. She said that knowing how to talk to Maris, how not to surprise her or make her feel threatened enough to control her surroundings, was a skill she had developed over a very long period of acquaintance. She likened her to Apollodorus in this way, as well as ..." Tranquillina scrunches up her face, slightly unsure. "... as well as Apollodorus's first filius, whom she did not name. But she said Alexei would know this magus. Alexei...?" she queries.
Alexei seemed a bit distracted with the talk of different magi that he hadn't thought of in awhile. At the mention of his name he perks up. "Eh? Who..? Oh...um...Apollodorus's first filius...I met him yes. Bulled his way into the Covenant and tried imposing his will. He was...I...Iaptus? Something like that, a real bastard. The next time I see him...well truthfully there's not much I can do, Maris easily defeated me in Certamen that we had for the love, and Maris is younger than he."
The hint of a story behind Alexei's comment piqued Tranquillina's curiosity, but that will probably have to wait for another time. "Iapetus! - that's it, Tria did say the name later, while talking about Ulrich - " She stops herself suddenly, looking quickly at Rose, but then tries to conceal the fact that she made a connection between the two. ((Prs 2 + Guile 3 + stress die 9 = 14.)) "Let me back up a step, it will make more sense then: Tria was discussing the effect that Apollodorus's mentorship had on these three: Iapetus, then Maris, and then Ulrich, who is currently Ra'am's apprentice at [strike]Le Maison[/strike] Phoenix. Somehow, he managed to ... instill a vast amount of skill with Rego into his pupils ... not in an ordinary way. It created a, a danger within each one: something that could burst up at any moment, impelling them to impose their will upon their surroundings. Apparently Apollodorus managed to lessen the impact of this effect upon Maris; not so, with Iapetus; and with Ulrich...." she shrugs, not finishing the sentence.
"The first day I set foot in Mons Electi ... I transported myself to a traveling group led by Maris and our sodalis Rose here. I spoke of the field Aegis to this council at the time - those who are new," she nods to Roberto, Gerulf, and Stultus in turn, "should ask about it sometime. But I might not have mentioned that when I tried to express my views on it, Maris paralyzed me with a glance." Tranquillina looks around, making sure she has the magi's full attention. "Think about that, sodales. Between the moment I started moving my arm and the moment it would have touched hers, she overwhelmed my Parma Magica with a spell that could have been conveyed only through her gaze. Thinking about the power that implies.... I have spent perhaps half of my time as a maga studying the great Art of Corpus. If I had spent every moment of my life, starting from the day my Arts were opened" (Stultus, if he perks up, might notice her eyes narrowing briefly at this memory) "studying nothing but Corpus, season after season ... it is possible that I might have been able to cast such a spell and penetrate a specialist's resistance. But - without speaking a word?!" She shakes her head. "This is the magnitude of the Rego power Apollodorus's filia commands."
Fiona looks thoughtful as she quietly listens to Tranquillina's tale, missing the glance that she shot at Rose.
Fiona whistles lowly in amazement.
[color=blue]"And, possibly, Ulrich?" Fiona says, as she thinks back to how the apprentice embarrassed himself at the Primi dinner party, and how he had ogled her when she was teaching him some years before.
"And possibly Ulrich," Tranquillina concurs. "Although that much is speculation, perhaps." She smooths her dress reflexively, her eyes up towards the ceiling as she searches her memory. "Iapetus ... Maris spoke further of him, a bit. He had apprentices, a lover - all of them cursed, with lycanthropy. Their hope was to procreate so that their lineage, similarly afflicted, would comprise a powerful force. One that I would not wish present in our Order," she adds nervously.
"The conversation with Maris was odd: it seemed to me that she would not speak of certain matters until Tria brought them up. In troth, more that she could not ... some sort of compulsion, magically enforced?" Tranquillina tilts her head curiously, inviting theories. "She did say that Apollodorus - then called Xenophon of course - experienced a prolonged Twilight episode, several years in length, after attempting to advance his understanding of the Arts using vis. Afterwards, House Tremere saw that he had gained significant power, and employed him correspondingly in their organization; but he did not reveal its true, unfathomable extent."
Shortly after Viscaria leaves (which, I'm assuming, is immediately after the Normandy Tribunal), taking Vin Diesel with her, a red-eyed Wen approaches whoever's in charge of the turb.
"Do you have need of a scout?" she asks. "I know the area, and I'm willing to learn the bow and whatever else I need to."
Deykin breaks ranks and grabs his younger sister by the arm, pulling her aside, and they have a heated discussion in Welsh, during which the name "Vin Diesel" can be heard a few times. Wen finally pulls free and storms over to whomever, glaring up at him and waiting for an answer.